Oct 29 2006

November 2006

Hi everyone,

Well, the first half of the tour in France is done and so far, all the shows have gone really well. It has been a challenge to arrange the music so that it sounds full with only 3 instruments (guitar, bass, and drums), but we are all pleased with what we have accomplished. Sam and JB have done an amazing job being creative and trying new approaches in order to keep the music intimate yet driving at the same time. Have you noticed the drum kit that Sam is playing ? It’s his creation: half drum set, half percussion kit. It gives him the ability to cover a lot of musical territory.

I like the new versions of songs that have rearranged for this tour. What are my favourites to play ? I like playing the new version of “Le Bon Dieu”, “On Regarde”, the ending to “Les Marchands De Rêves”, and “Iwacu”. The setlist really flows on this tour and that makes for good time on stage. Because we are only three musicians, there is a lot of space that can be filled up by myself and JB. You can usually catch us smiling at one another when we hear one of us play something different than we usually play (or in my case in Amiens, a little mistake in “Le Bon Dieu”…oops).

This tour is different because we have had a lot more days off than we usually do while on tour. That can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing. It’s bad because it makes the tour seem longer when we don’t have a concert, but it’s good because we get to rest. I pretty much spend my days off the same way in each city – I sleep, practice guitar, and look for a place to wash my clothes. I also leave the TV on to CNN all the time. I don’t watch TV at home but I like to stay informed with the world events (even if they are a bit skewed) over in Europe via CNN. I have even become an expert at knowing the CNN weather people by their first and last name. (I even know what days and times they work !!) At any given moment, I can tell you the highs and lows in most cities in Europe and Asia (Wait…Fritz Nivose just informed me of a tropical storm forming off the coast of California). I have also developed a relationship (in my head, of course) with my favourite news anchors: Anjali Rao, Adrian Finnegan, and my favourite: Ishah Sasey. (Wow !) I also have my least favourites – Charles Hodson and all-time least-fave, Larry King – yuck.

In case you were wondering, here’s how a typical tour day goes. We usually arrive at the venue at 15:00. We are shown to our dressing room and we will have a quick bite to eat at the venue. Once that is done, we will do our soundcheck from 16:00 – 17:30. The soundcheck consists of us playing a few songs for the sound engineer to adjust his equipment for the venue and for us to make adjustments to our own sound in our in-ear monitors. We also take advantage at that time to make changes to the music that we think needs some fine-tuning. At 17:30 the opening act will do their soundcheck. At that point we will either get back on the bus to sleep before we eat our dinner or we’ll just kill time before the meal is served. I usually take a walk around the area of the venue before we eat. Once we eat, we are free to do what we want before the show call. I usually grab a guitar and practice. Sam practices on his drum pad and JB likes to show his appreciation for the meal by burping many times loudly to the amusement of only him. Once the opening act hits the stage, we get changed and then we go on stage about 15-20 minutes after the opening act. (The opening act, Perle Lama, by the way, has been amazing. She is a great singer and has a great band). After the show, we get changed and what we do next depends on where the next concert is. If we sleep in the same city as the concert, we usually are on the bus 30 minutes after the show and we leave the venue for the hotel. If we drive overnight, we leave the venue almost two hours after the show. If that’s the case, we either stay at the venue and work on our computers or we go to the bus and watch a movie. On the bus, we eat sandwiches and then sleep. The bunks on the bus are very comfortable and I get some of my best sleep while the bus is moving. The next day, the process repeats itself all over again. Now you can see why we never know what day of the week it is when on tour.

I have been filming some of the soundchecks during the tour. When I get them organized, I will try to put them up on the site. The quality is not great, but it might be interesting to see.

I hope to see you on the next round of the tour in November,

Andy

P.S. In my iPod: Brent Mason – Hot Wired, Various Artists – Women Of Africa, John Scofield – Uberjam, John Scofield – Up All Nite, John Mclaughlin – Live at the Royal Albert Hall, George Benson – Absolute Benson, Dick Berk – East Coast Stroll, Norah Jones – Feels Like Home, Paul Deslauriers – Ripping Into Red (with Sam Harrisson on drums !), Alpha Yaya Diallo – Djama, John Mayer – Continuum, Luther Vandross - Dance With My Father, Laylah Hathaway - Laylah Hathaway, The Jackson 5 - Great Songs And Performances, Earth, Wind, and Fire - The Collection